Ukraine woke up early that morning to make Kumajiro breakfast. Mathew had said that his son liked pancakes and had left her some Canadian Maple Syrup. She had never made pancakes before and was really excited. She hoped that he would like them.

Ukraine and Kumajiro hadn't been getting along very well so far. He was still angry his dad had left and refused to talk to her unless it was absolutely necessary. Ukraine wanted to try her best for Mathew's sake.

"Mathew's a really nice guy." Ukraine thought. She loved how he always tried so hard to take care of his son. She never had that. She had to raise her two siblings on her own when she was still a child herself. "And Mathew's so responsible! He's taking care of his sick son and going to the G8 meeting to help out there too! And he' so cute!" She loved his curly blond hair and his deep blue eyes. And the way he looked when he blushed…

"What the hell are you doing!" Kumajiro shouted as he ran towards the pan of pancake mix that had caught on fire.

"Are you stupid? You can't just space out like that when you're cooking! We could have died! "

"I'm sorry," She said.

His face was really red this morning. She reached out to touch his forehead. It was burning.

"Are you ok? Maybe you should go lie do…"

"I'm fine! Geez, it's just a fever!"

Ukraine pouted and began to clean up her mess. Kumajiro felt bad for shouting at her, it wasn't her fault he was abandoned. He helped her clean up.

"You were making pancakes?" He asked, surprised.

"Your dad said you liked them."

Kumajiro got suspicious. Just how much time was she spending with his dad? But he was also glad that his dad had told her about his favorite food. They made pancakes together and spent their morning eating them and playing card games.

"I've got to go work on the farm, but I'll be back in a few hours ok?"

He nodded.

"My cell phone number is on the fridge. You can eat whatever you want." She instructed him, "And please try and get some rest while I'm gone."

When she returned, she found him crying in his new room.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly, "are you feeling sick? Do you need your medicine?"

"W-why did dad abandon me?"

"Oh sweetheart! He didn't abandon you! He's coming back!" she said wrapping her arms around him. The poor kid, no wonder he disliked her so much!

"He's going to leave me, just like my real parents did," he said hugging her back,

"Am I really a bad son?"

"No you're not! And your dad loves you very much," she said, holding the crying child tightly; "He'll be back as soon as the meetings are done."

"Why couldn't I go with him? W-why did he leave me here?"

"He's just worried about you! He didn't want to bring you because you're sick! And it's boiling in Florida so he thought you'd be happier here!"

"Why are you letting me stay here?"

"Because your dad's my friend and I want to hel-"

"You like him, don't you?"

Ukraine blushed. Was it that obvious? Kumajiro pulled away from the hug and scowled. Just as he thought, she was trying to steal his dad away from him!

"It doesn't matter," she said, "he doesn't like me back…"

Ukraine looked very sad and Kumajiro began to feel sorry for being so rude to her.

"Do…do you want to play hockey with me?" he asked, trying to cheer her up.

"Sure," She replied smiling.

They played for half an hour before Kumajiro got too tiered and went to bed.

"Hello?"

"It's me again. How's Kumajiro?"

Ukraine should have told him that it's two a.m. over here, that she was exhausted and to stop calling her so late at night, but she was so happy to hear the sound of his voice that she just replied: "He was really tired today and his fever went up."

Mathew was silent. Ukraine didn't want to worry him so she decided to change the subject.

"But we're getting along a lot better now!" she told him, "We made pancakes and played hockey!"

"Sounds fun."

Ukraine noticed that Mathew sounded exhausted. She began to worry about him. He must be really stressed. She could tell he was really worried about his son but there seemed to be something else on his mind this morning.

"Did something happen today?"

"It was Al's birthday."

"It just annoys me that my brother gets this one day all about him,

not that it's not like that every other day of the year! I wouldn't

have minded spending my birthday alone with you and Kumajiro if I

wasn't fighting with him."

Ukraine didn't know what to say. She had some family issues too but

her situation was different she didn't want to upset him by saying

things like "I'm sorry" and " I know how you feel"

"You and your brother don't get along?"

"No. He's always been dad's favorite." Mathew replied, "He doesn't

acknowledge Sealand and he still hasn't noticed that Prussia is

standing in for me during the meetings."

"What about France?"

"He's too busy fighting with England to care, but I think Al's his

favorite too."

"It just pisses me off that Al is everyone's favorite!"

After a few minutes of silence, Ukraine decided to be brave and tell
him how she felt: "Alfred isn't everyone's favorite...I mean...I..."

"Yeah I guess you're right," he said "Cuba hates him, but that doesn't
mean he remembers who I am!"

That's not what she meant. She wanted to tell him that she loved him;
that she always had. She wanted to tell him not worry about his
brother, that he was different and that someday people would realize
that.

"I...I real-"

"I'm sorry I'm dumping all my problems on you. I'm so pathetic
sometimes!" he said, "I probably woke you up didn't
I?"

"Oh! No, it's ok! I don't min-"

"No, I'm sorry! I'll go now. Bye!"

"Bye"

He had already hung up. She felt so stupid. He came to her for help
and she wasn't able to do anything. She had almost told him. What was
she thinking? She knew he didn't like her back. If he knew how she
felt things would just become awkward between them, not that the
situation wasn't awkward to begin with.

Gasp! Ukraine! You're using pancake mix? You're not making it from scratch? And you're leaving Kumajiro, who is dying of a fatal disease, home alone for hours while you go work on the farm?

Don't worry readers! Kumajiro is in good hands! Ukraine's just a little rusty right now…